When “Question of the Week” Goes Off the Rails

Here at ECW we are a fairly congenial group. Our fearless leader (although he selflessly claims we all lead) Chris Mackowski has a wry sense of humor, and we all have a quirk or two. Most historians do. After all, we like dead people!

We have meetings. Sometimes they are in person, sometimes on line, sometimes on the phone, but we know each other’s voices, both written and spoken aloud. One topic that comes up is the Question of the Week. We all agree it is a good topic to use regularly. It gives our readers a chance to interject their opinions into the mix, and to be part of the overall conversations on a personal level. Choosing a QoW is a process, to say the least, and sometimes our discussions go off the rails. At the beginning of the month we all were convulsed with laughter by the following:

On 6 October 2015 at 08:58, Mackowski, Chris wrote: I still need some Questions of the Week from folks, please. If you could send me a couple ideas by the end of the week, I would appreciate it.

A suggestion from one of our members: In what order do you rank the following? George Washington, Robert E. Lee, and Jesus

The first response: You forgot Elvis.

The reaction: I was trying to keep it more on the military arts and deity side of things. Although Elvis might fit into one of those…

(by this point most of us are awaiting further emails in gleeful anticipation)

In a message dated 10/6/2015 4:33:10 P.M. Central Daylight Time, fearless Leader responds once again: Elvis served in the army. He was (no kidding) in my barber’s regiment.

Then more: Armor, no less. Made Sgt. Kept the Red hordes out of West Germany. 3rd AD. Colin Powell was an LT in the same division, at the time Presley was there. (who knew?)

I am sure someone could have predicted the final comment: Yeah but what Elvis? The King or fat Elvis?

It began to wind down by this time. We are more historians than comedy writers, although sometimes the two merge. I do not think we will be using the initial question concerning the deity of Generals Washington or Lee, so fear not, dear readers–you will probably not be asked to rank the saints of American history. We try to keep the blog current and interesting, sometimes controversial, but always firmly rooted in the past.

Still . . . sometimes things get close to the edge of the box, and when that happens we are mostly ROFLMAO.